This category has had one of the longest and most consistent streaks for a winner ever with Virgin Australia Velocity winning the category eight of the past nine years (El AL won the award in 2017). So the win by Singapore KrisFlyer represents a huge shift in the value of loyalty programs in the Middle East & Asia/Oceania region. And Singapore did it with their usual aplomb garnering a 9.23 rating by their members. In the #2 spot with a rating of 8.90 is Vistara Club Vistara followed by Garuda Indonesia GarudaMiles with a member rating of 8.23. And where are past winners of this important category? Velocity has dropped to #7 two full points + behind the winning category rating and El Al did not even make the top ten. For Velocity, it is quite the fall as they are now ranked below that of rival Qantas who finished in the #6 spot. The bright star of the Australian airline loyalty marketplace—Air New Zealand landed a quite respectable #4.
TRIVIA: Vistara Airlines (#2) is actually a joint venture between Tata Sons (a privately held conglomerate in India) and Singapore Airlines. Their headquarters is in Gurgaon, also known as Gurugram, (a suburb of New Delhi which is an urban district within the city of Delhi) which is also the headquarters for Freddie Award winner Club ITC.
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Program of the Year – Airlines (Middle East & Asia/Oceania)
KrisFlyer works on sweeping the Freddie Awards in the Middle East & Asia/Oceania region with this impressive win, nearly a half-point higher rating from their members than #2 Vistara Club Vistara. As with Program of the Year, Garuda Indonesia GarudaMiles closes out the top three with their 8.24 rating by members. The first true Middle East airline loyalty program in this category is Saudia Alfursan easily outdistancing Emirates Skywards in #8. And what of perennial category winner Virgin Australia Velocity? They are in full command of the #9 spot. Another Asian loyalty program that hovers in the top half is the Korean Air Skypass program, in this category ranked at #6. The top Chinese loyalty program emerges from Air China PhoenixMiles landing in the #13 spot.
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Best Elite Program – Airlines (Middle East & Asia/Oceania)
Add this category to the sweep of awards that Singapore KrisFlyer has earned and won in 2022. Their “Earn Status Without Flying” promotion bested all others by allowing KrisFlyer and PPS Club members the ability to accumulate status credits as they shopped, spent, or converted partner reward points to KrisFlyer miles. This KrisFlyer year-long campaign counted towards status renewal or membership tier upgrade snd it earned a 9.08 rating. Ranking second, was the Club Vistara promotion called Milestone for which members taking 4 flights would earn 1,000 bonus Club Vistara Points. Well rated at 8.80. It’s delightful to see Qantas at the #3 spot with their Celebrate The Trans-Tasman Bubble promotion in which Frequent Flyer members were welcomed back on board with 5,000 bonus points and double status credits when they registered and made bookings May 10-15, 2021 for travel May 17, 2021 – February 28, 2022. Rated at 7.22 by their members, Qantas made a great effort to put the Covid years behind. In the #4 and #5 positions, we’re happy to see two Middle East loyalty programs, Emirates and Qatar, qualify in the top five positions for their promotions. Emirates featured the catchy Earn-A-Mile-A-Minute in Dubai which coincided with Expo 2020, the UAE’s 50th-year celebration, and all of the unforgettable experiences that Dubai has to offer. Skywards members earned 1 Skywards Mile for every minute spent in the city during the Expo 2020 global showcase from 1 October 2021 onward. This was clearly imaginative. But let’s not forget Qatar and their FIFA Offer. As the Official Frequent Flyer Programme of the 2022 FIFA World Cup Qatar, Privilege Club members received 14 days early access to FIFA packages and when return flights opened for the first games of the World Cup, members were able to enjoy 100 bonus elite Qpoints for all bookings made that day for the specific travel period. Given the frenzy of the FIFA World Cup, it’s clear this was popular and earned its own 6.98 rating.
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Best Promotion – Airlines (Middle East & Asia/Oceania)
As an airline, Singapore has over the years built a standard for customer in-flight service second to none. Now it seems their KrisFlyer loyalty program is following right behind with the Best Customer Service award for a hotel loyalty program in this year’s Freddie Awards. And at a rating of 9.20, it is among the highest-rated of any award they have won. As with other categories in this region, it’s Vistara Club Vistara right behind followed by Garuda Indonesia GarudaMiles. And then both Air New Zealand Airpoints and Korean Air Skypass close out the top five highest-ranked programs in this region. And where might the winner of this award over the past four years have landed? Sorry to have to report that Virgin Australia Velocity dropped to the #10 spot with a rating by their members of 7.02, more than three full points behind Singapore KrisFlyer. While the internet is a very large place, there’s still not enough room for us to fully express our opinions on why and how the remaining programs were rated as they were by their members.
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Best Customer Service – Airlines (Middle East & Asia/Oceania)
This category matters equally to all when you ask most frequent flyers. And for good reason. If you can’t use your loyalty points, then what is the reason to collect them? In yet another category rating of 9.X, KrisFlyer proves consistency among all the categories it won a Freddie Award this year. They have consistently been near the top but unable to break through and maybe it did make a change in the industry (Covid+) for them to reset the expectations of their members. But they aren’t alone at the top. Right behind then in yet another very promising rating is the Vistara Club Vistara program rating in the high 8.X and again Garuda shows its promise with yet another top-three finish. Interesting that two Oceania programs—Air New Zealand and Qantas are side by side in numbers four and five while the former #1, Virgin Australia Velocity settled into the number eight spot. And as with other categories, the disappointment of no Chinese program in the top ten and the first Middle East-based program in this category, Emirates Skywards, could garner only a #10 finish for the highest rating.
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Best Redemption Ability – Airlines (Middle East & Asia/Oceania)
